Chance to salvage a bit of pride: Swann

After the 0-5 whitewash against India, England would look to salvage some pride when they take on the hosts in the one-off Twenty20 match in Kolkata on Saturday, stand-in skipper Graeme Swann said.

Swann is captaining the T20 side in the absence of an injured Stuart Broad. The 32-year-old had led England against the West Indies for a 1-1 result in the two-match series last month and said he was looking forward to the job again.

"I am looking forward to captain again. It's been a month or so when I was the captain of the side. It's been good fun. It is a chance for us to salvage a bit of pride. It's chance for me to get my hands on the game as a leader," Swann said at the Eden Gardens.

On the humiliating One-day series loss, the offspinner said: "It's very nice that the five-match series has finished. We can actually focus on T20 cricket. Sometime change is good. Everyone is positive; we are looking forward to it. The spirit is quite good. It's a very resilient England squad. I would say we were very gracious in defeat. We had to be."

Swann said the one-off match would be a battle between two top Twenty20 teams as both the sides are World Champions in this format.

"We are the current T20 champions. It will be a battle between the current versus the previous T20 champions, the two top T20 sides in the world. It will be a nice chance to draw a line against the fifty over series. We will look to approach the game with freshness."

The Twenty20 skipper feels there is a need to have more T20 matches during a tour.

"We don't play enough of this format of the game. It may be the future of one-day cricket but I look forward to the time when every tour has at least a three-match Twenty20 series," Swann said.

The Eden Gardens strip had drawn sharp criticism from India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who termed it a ugly looking wicket and Swann too echoed the same views, on Friday.

"It's a strange looking wicket. It's very dry and very bare. Not surprising considering the way we have played spin on the tour. Must not really be a surprise why we did not handle the Indian spinners well. We can expect a low scoring match," he said.

Asked about his bowling, Swann said: "I'm disappointed with the way I bowled. I've not bowled as well as I would have hoped."